This study from McDonald's UK, the quick-service restaurant chain, seeks to understand how a manu may be rationalised to simplify consumer choice without a negative impact on sales.

Behind this question lay a more complex challenge touching on choice dynamics, product innovation, kitchen logistics and research design.

In order to find the answer, McDonald's used interactive conjoint questionnaires devised to unpick consumers' complex decisions: what they were doing and why.

As a result, McDonald's could identify items that could be dropped with a negligible impact on demand; the model suggested that 85-95% of current sales would be retained if the 'Deli Sandwich' range was dropped - only a 0.5% drop in total sales.

A subsequent sales test validated that result, showing a decrease of just 0.24% on sales and growth in the wraps platform.

This case study describes how takeaway pizza brand Domino's UK re-engineered its communications and channel model to drive sales by treating purchases as not just transactions but meal occasions and communications moments.

This case study describes how takeaway pizza brand Domino's UK re-engineered its communications and channel model to drive sales by treating purchases as not just transactions but meal occasions and communications moments.

The takeaway landscape had changed and the emergence of aggregators like Hungry House and Just Eat didn't just add more competition for consumers' attention and spend, but were driving change in expectations and behaviour.

Domino's conducted the most significant customer segmentation analysis since its arrival in the UK in 1985 and identified "Family Feasters" (parents with children aged 6 to 14) as a key growth opportunity beyond its existing heartland of 18- to 34-year-old "Social Snackers".

Domino's decided to build new campaigns based on insights into how its combination of product, value and service could make occasions great and did this by increasing its emphasis on digital channels, mobile and sponsorships.

"Greatness from Domino's" generated an ROI figure of 1.3:1 based on profit and a revenue ROI figure of 5:1 and the brand overtook Pizza Hut as the number-one pizza brand by market share and preference.

This case study describes how food giant McDonald's moved away from the €1 battle going on in traditional media between the quick-service restaurants in Spain and created a multichannel piece of branded content to appeal to foodies.

This case study describes how food giant McDonald's moved away from the €1 battle going on in traditional media between the quick-service restaurants in Spain and created a multichannel piece of branded content to appeal to foodies.

People in Spain weren't eating out as much as they did before because they wanted to save money after the financial crisis but they had also become more and more interested in gastronomy as long as there was a balance between price and quality.

McDonald's needed to elevate its brand perception and increase sales through a campaign focused on turning hamburgers into a gourmet food, which were high quality at a fair price.

It joined forces with Top Chef, Spain's top culinary programme for professional chefs, and gave them the challenge of creating a new burger live on air, with the proviso that the winner would be available in McDonald's the next day, with viewers of the programme voting for the winner through a specially created app.

Sales of the new #foodie sandwich reached 10.1% of all products sold within the first six days against a target of 4% estimated sales and after the fifth week, sales remained at 6.5%, 2.5% higher than the initially marked and expected objective of the campaign.

This case study shows how McDonald's launched a zero-budget Facebook campaign aimed at Jordanian teens that used a strategic partnership with an acapella band - and reinforced the brand's positioning as loving, young and dynamic.

This case study shows how McDonald's launched a zero-budget Facebook campaign aimed at Jordanian teens that used a strategic partnership with an acapella band - and reinforced the brand's positioning as loving, young and dynamic.

McDonald's had enjoyed a lot of goodwill in Jordan when it launched there, benefiting from its status as an international brand - but then the hype died down and it needed to pick up sales again.

So McDonald's undertook a range of research, from focus groups to social media listening, and decided to follow a campaign strategy of focusing on existing loyal customers' love for the brand, then going viral and reaching out in turn to lighter users.

It employed an acapella band to use positive social media comments about McDonald's as lyrics, sing songs around the restaurants in malls, film the songs and post them on social media.

The new songs resulted in a spike in Facebook fans for the brand, and a 69% rise in guest counts in the first week of the campaign.

This case study shows how Costa, a coffee shop brand, took a different approach to creative content to achieve sales growth in the UK.

Costa was in need of a campaign that could maximise a low media spend budget to deliver saliency in a market dominated by larger corporations.

Intending to break the traditional coffee chain communications pattern and focus the campaign on the brand's British heritage instead, Costa partnered with Buzzfeed to create 'coffee moment' content centred on what makes British people happy.

The co-branded video was launched across Buzzfeed's owned channels, including social media.

The campaign assets were more popular than much of Buzzfeed's editorial, and the approach was adopted for its next year's planning.

This case study shows how McDonald's, a fast food chain, increased sales in the UK by creating bespoke content to fit the TV shows it had partnered with.

Having launched their McCafé range in the UK, the brand needed a caffeine boost to lift it from being only the nation's fourth choice for coffee.

With a creative idea that the phrase 'going for a coffee' meant more than its literal meaning, the brand created 40 'McCafé moments' short TV spots that, in partnership with Channel 4, were featured in between show breaks and featured real people discussing the action of the show being broadcast.

The campaign was further enhanced through social media, and through Channel 4's on demand service, which allowed people to choose which spot to watch on their breaks.

Post-campaign, McCafé beverage unit sales were up over 7% year-on-year, and the campaign delivered an ROI of £2.30 per each £1 spent.

This case study shows how Domino's, a pizza delivery service brand, unlocked an untapped consumer group by sponsoring a popular soap opera in the UK.

Despite its market leader position, Domino's wanted to grow its consumer base and increase its sales within the mid-week takeaway segment.

Hollyoaks, the popular British soap opera, presented itself as the perfect vehicle for a sponsorship that would connect Domino's with its mid-afternoon viewers.

Besides tailored TV spots, featuring Domino's drivers shot within the soap opera's setting, the campaign's activation activity included substantial social media activity, special Hollyoaks promotions and events, and on-set activities that were shared by the cast with their fans on social media.

Domino's midweek sales increased and campaign recall increased to a near universal 93% among the target age group.

This case study shows how Costa, a coffee shop brand, successfully grew its brand affinity and sales in the UK with an integrated campaign.

Despite becoming the leader in a quickly expanding market, Costa needed to assert its brand purpose and to differentiate itself from the competition in order to drive sales.

Through a three-phased campaign, Costa not only took aim at its competition to highlight its handcrafted coffee promise, but also developed two campaigns that drove consumer affinity to the brand and provided an emotional link with consumers during the holidays.

The campaigns relied heavily on TV, as well as social, print, digital, OOH, POS and media partnerships to spread their messages.

As a result, the brand saw a ROMI of £3.81 per £1 spent across the three-phased campaign.

9

McDonald's Hong Kong: A Surprise in Disguise

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Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2016

This case study shows how McDonald's, a fast food chain, partnered with a celebrity chef to created a pop-up restaurant and increase the Quarter Pounder Burger consumption in Hong Kong.

This case study shows how McDonald's, a fast food chain, partnered with a celebrity chef to created a pop-up restaurant and increase the Quarter Pounder Burger consumption in Hong Kong.

The brand was looking to increase awareness of its iconic but under-performing Quarter Pounder, while rebranding itself as a fast casual restaurant.

The brand decided to focus the campaign on a celebrity chef and partnered with renowned Mauritian-Hong Kong chef Christian Yang, to create a pop-up experience that would serve the classic Quarter Pounder and two other gourmet versions of the burger, ask customers to pay how much they thought it would cost, and then introduce it as a McDonald's product.

The campaign was complemented by unbranded 15-second teaser ads, a 30-second TVC, and digital ads on various platforms.

This case study shows how McDonald's, a fast food chain, turned its staple tie-in toy marketing around, with a brand building and emotion-led campaign that also increased its sales in Hong Kong.

While generally beneficial to the business, tie-in marketing had suffered from a disconnect between business and brand effects.

With its upcoming 'The Peanuts Movie' campaign, McDonald's tapped into the notion of finding happiness in small gestures fostered by the famous comics - and devised a campaign focused on the importance of hugging as a small but important gesture of affection.

The campaign featured a TVC which featured three generations of Hong Kong men finding the importance of a hug, as well as Peanuts Mcdonald's merchandise, along with a real life 'hug stories' featured on social media platforms.

This case study describes how Pizza Hut, the restaurant chain, used weather triggers in its online search campaign in Malaysia to maintain market dominance.

From June 2015 onwards, when the haze from Indonesian forest fires badly affected the air quality in Malaysia, Pizza Hut experienced decline in sales as people did not want to go outside for health reasons.

Research showed that the nation's focus at the time was around air pollution, respiratory health and family well-being.

In a first-in-category innovation where search was driven by weather triggers and bidding was modified and triggered by haze severity, Pizza Hut selected trending words related to 'haze' and bid on them around lunch and dinner time as well as promoted online ads around enjoying pizza at home.

This case study demonstrates how McDonald's, the quick service restaurant chain, revived the Big Mac in Hong Kong by revisiting the heritage of the iconic burger.

Fans of McDonald's in Hong Kong had got used to new, limited time burger launches, but creating excitement about the chain's permanent menu items was difficult.

To give the Big Mac the fresh recognition is deserved, McDonald's created a retro karaoke version of the Big Mac Chant from the 90s along with a throwback karaoke music video and promoted them on TV and social media.

The campaign helped McDonald's break its sales targets and generated a substantial increase in social media engagements, views and likes.

16

Seamless: Taking Back New York

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Jay Chiat Strategic Excellence Awards, Gold, 2016

This case study demonstrates how Seamless, the market leading food delivery service connecting diners and restaurants across NYC, transcended competition and elevated the brand by connecting with people's proud New York identity.

This case study demonstrates how Seamless, the market leading food delivery service connecting diners and restaurants across NYC, transcended competition and elevated the brand by connecting with people's proud New York identity.

Seamless was facing an onslaught of competition from big tech and logistics players who were shouting louder, eroding their distinctiveness and threatening to steal their share.

New Yorkers don't cook, and in the city delivery is a way of life.

The 'How New York Eats' integrated campaign launched with multiple posters that spoke to New Yorkers about what it means to make it in this city.

It received a boost with some paid social, competitions, strategic ad placements, a New York-inspired visual language for the ads and paid-for TV spots.

Immediately following the campaign launch new diners were up dramatically.

17

Arby's Flaunts New Brown Sugar Bacon with Launch of Vegetarian Support Program

In 2015, Arby's was introducing its newest addition to the menu, Brown Sugar Bacon.

The bacon trend was nothing new and many competitors had already jumped on the bandwagon.

Arby's Vegetarian Support programme saw the introduction of a vegetarian support hotline, promoted via a YouTube video, a vegetarian support webpage, an open letter to vegetarians across American and a crisis plan.

The campaign not only hit every target, including an increase in sales, but also resulted in 16,410 total hotline calls and 24 million earned media impressions generated by 78 media placements.

18

Arby's gets a taste for eSports

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Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, Advertising Week NY, September 2016

This event report outlines how Arby's, the restaurant chain, partnered with ELEAGUE – an eSports property created by TBS and WME IMG – to reach gaming enthusiasts.

This event report outlines how McDonald's, the quick service restaurant chain, is adapting its marketing model to the digital age.

Context and human needs in a given moment are much more important than the specific screen or channel a consumer is using.

On mobile, the company's strategy mixes context and location to identify the unique engagement occasion for each consumer.

As the subject of considerable online discussion, McDonald's now interacts with mentions of its brand once every ten seconds.

20

Yum Brands (Food)

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Euromonitor Profiles, September 2016

This Company Profile from Euromonitor provides key details and analysis of Yum! Brands Inc, the owner of brands such as KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. View Summary

This Company Profile from Euromonitor provides key details and analysis of Yum! Brands Inc, the owner of brands such as KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Included is a strategic evaluation with key facts about the US company, competitive positioning against comparative brands, and assessment of its position in the food market. Brand opportunities and strategy are identified and recommendations for the future offered.

21

Pizza Hut: Haze, Haze You Can Stay, We're Enjoying Pizza Today!

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MMA Smarties, Bronze, 2016

This case study describes how Pizza Hut, an American restaurant chain and international franchise, used weather triggers in its online search campaign in Malaysia to maintain market dominance.

This case study describes how Pizza Hut, an American restaurant chain and international franchise, used weather triggers in its online search campaign in Malaysia to maintain market dominance.

When the haze from Indonesian forest fires badly affected the air quality in Malaysia, Pizza Hut experienced decline in sales as people did not want to go outside for health reasons.

They turned to their mobiles instead.

Based on the Google Keyword Planner data that 68% of the search queries were through mobile, Pizza Hut opted for a mobile-skewed Search campaign, integrating a Weather Forecasting Application to the Adwords Search Platform.

Search was driven by weather triggers and bidding was modified and triggered by haze severity, the 'Haze' themed Search campaign with Haze keywords would be activated against the 'Stay at home and enjoy a Pizza' themed ad copy.

Campaign sales rates achieved a 70% year-on-year growth.

22

Dunkin' Donuts: #WTFast

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MMA Smarties, Best in Show and Gold, 2016

This case study describes how Dunkin' Donuts, an American global donut company and coffeehouse chain, drove awareness and app downloads of its latest innovation, On-the-Go Ordering, with the help of a 360 campaign.

This case study describes how Dunkin' Donuts, an American global donut company and coffeehouse chain, drove awareness and app downloads of its latest innovation, On-the-Go Ordering, with the help of a 360 campaign.

Dunkin' needed to develop a multi-phase content strategy that ensured its message would be heard by loyal fans and new prospects alike.

The #WTFast campaign focused on capturing the World's Fastest Dunkin' run and featured wingsuit athlete, Ellen Brennan, the world's fastest flying woman, becoming the first athlete in her sport to grab an item (donuts) mid-flight.

The resulting video was placed on traditional and new (Facebook 360 video units and Snapchat Install Ads) social channels.

The integrated campaign increased overall downloads of the app by 44% and generated 25% more new users in a four-week period than any other campaign since the Dunkin' mobile app first launched in 2012.

23

Grubhub's approach to engaging consumers

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Diana Marszalek, Event Reports, ANA Digital & Social Media, July 2016

This event report details attempts by Grubhub, the online takeout and delivery service, to deepen its engagement with consumers.

The article explains how Deliveroo, a UK-founded food delivery service, successfully launched its product in Hong Kong with data-driven segmentation, localization and a focus on customer experience.

Deliveroo focused on quality engagements on the right platforms, with the right audiences, rather than dropping a huge amount of money on a big bang stunt.

A seamless customer experience was hugely important, especially as word of mouth recommendations were critical and Hong Kong gives much more feedback on customer service than other markets – if the service or the state of the product on delivery lets the brand down then "spending any dollar amount on marketing is useless".

Deliveroo pushes re-engagement for the brand by segmenting its audience by frequency of purchase, generating specific lists of people to target CRM-driven email campaigns at.

The brand creates influencers of its biggest fans by offering incentives.

25

How Domino's uses mobile to connect with customers, improve experiences and increase sales

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Emily Barley, Event Reports, MMA Forum, London, June 2016

This event report looks at Domino's, the pizza takeaway, and its innovations in new technology, notably in immersive mobile experiences to drive the company into the 'front and centre' of people's minds.

This event report looks at Domino's, the pizza takeaway, and its innovations in new technology, notably in immersive mobile experiences to drive the company into the 'front and centre' of people's minds.

With three aspirations, Domino's pushes to be powered by people, to innovate beyond the limits of the category, and to shape culture to bring the company into what people are doing.

Convenience and personalisation are key, but so is dispelling uncertainty for consumers; however, Domino's took this a step further with 'Pizza Legends' where own-creations could be saved and reordered, even shared on social.

Mobile sales aren't just better for the company on a macro level – the individuals are 'better' customers too: mobile customers buy more often and spend more.